


Proof

by HYPERFocused



Category: Everwood
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-05-06
Updated: 2004-05-06
Packaged: 2017-11-28 03:09:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/669592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HYPERFocused/pseuds/HYPERFocused
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bright has layers. Ephram is deep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Proof

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Shellah (trinaest)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/trinaest/gifts).



Lately Bright thinks no one knows how many layers he has. They treat him like he's a sheet cake, when really he's Dobosh Torte; layer upon layer of chocolate and vanilla - striped kind of like his favorite rugby shirt. His grandmother used to serve it at Christmas dinner when he and Amy were kids. Not Edna, his other grandmother, the one they hardly ever see.

Bright knows Amy is supposed to be the thoughtful one, so deeply into her grief that she's turned herself inside out. Sometimes he's convinced she enjoys the wallowing, like she's this close to being one of those weird Goth girls, with the piercings and black nail polish.

Bright is different. Stronger, maybe, or at least people think so. Or maybe they think he's too stupid to feel things. No one has ever thought to offer _him_ therapy. No one seems to care what he thinks. Amy's the damaged one. Her Colin is gone, and everyone tells her how well she's coping, until it becomes obvious that she's not. His Colin never existed, except in Bright's mind.

Before the accident, Bright didn't have the nerve to tell Colin how he felt. A friendly "I love you, man" accompanied by a six-pack and a slug on the arm was about all he dared. Once, the six-pack had been teamed with a night of borrowed porn, and some mutual but solo pleasure. Instead of fulfilling Bright's dream, it had just felt sordid, and they'd never done it again. It was a line unsafely crossed. They were best friends and would never be more. Reputations were more important than relationships.

After the crash, Colin wasn't the same guy Bright had fallen for, though from the looks of things between him and Ephram he might have been more receptive. They'd never know, now.

He vowed if the situation ever came up again, he would speak his mind, damn the consequences, though he didn't think it was likely. He'd lost his old friends anyway, and wondered how good they had been. It seemed like they'd only cared when he was scoring.

Things changed a lot in a year. Sure, he missed Colin every day, but now that he had Ephram, he realized how much had been lacking in his friendship with Colin. They'd hung out since they were little kids, and Bright can't remember them ever having the kind of conversations he and Ephram had as a matter of course. With Colin it had mostly been games of HORSE, or swiping one of Colin's dad's Playboys and wondering when they'd meet girls like that

They'd talked about real girls some, but when Colin started going out with Amy, it had gotten weird. Bright never really felt comfortable about it, though he'd acted like the supportive big brother/best friend. It was only now that he and Ephram were - whatever they were - that he realized he wasn't just jealous because his sister had taken away his best friend, but because she was dating him.

How was it possible that Ephram was his closest friend now, and more? He's been more encouraging than Bright's family, never once telling him he was too stupid to do something, or ought to set lower goals for himself. Ephram is the most accepting person he knows. Truth be told, Bright was a little bit in love with him even before he got up the nerve to kiss him one night when they were watching DVDs. He couldn't even remember what they'd been watching. One of Ephram's weird anime things. It hadn't held his attention nearly as well as the sight of Ephram's pale face and dark hair lit purple and blue by the screen. Bright hadn't been able to help himself. He'd kissed Ephram before his inner censor could stop him.

The fear didn't come until the moment after, when he waited for Ephram to react. Would Ephram punch him? Laugh? Tell him to get out of his house? No. He'd just said "hold on a sec," and put the movie on pause. "We're getting to the good part," he went on. Then he kissed Bright back, and Bright had to agree.

Bright couldn't say for sure what made him brave enough to go for what he wanted with Ephram, but he was glad he had. He never expected a wiry comic book geek from New York to be the one to crack his re-glued shell. He'd never known that the callused hands of a boy who played piano could feel better and stronger than the imagined touch of a boy whose promise could never be realized.

But Colin had never touched him like Ephram did. Being with Ephram was like diving into the lake, not knowing how far it was to the bottom, but having no fear you could swim back to the surface. His acceptance made Bright's regrets over Colin dissipate like the clouds reflected in the water.

This has been a season of discovery for Bright, and what he's found out about himself is that despite the rejection from all the colleges to which he's applied, he's not a dumb jock. And while Amy follows her downward spiral, and sinks into depression, Bright just wants to get deeper into Ephram.

The greatest revelation of all is that Ephram feels it too. It's true Ephram isn't ready to say the words, but each time he tosses Bright four ounces of rich chocolate, or creamy vanilla, in a convenient single-serving cup, the proof is in the pudding.  



End file.
